GOVERNMENT auditors have called out the provincial government of Northern Samar over its failure to remit intact the taxes and mandatory contributions deducted from the pay of its personnel in 2023.
The audit team, in its 2023 report released last May 13, said the provincial government’s inter-agency yearend payables totaled P58.38 million consisting of P46.92 million to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), P5.09 million to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp (PhilHealth), P3.84 million to the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), and P2.52 million to the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund).
Auditors noted that as of 2023, the province withheld a total of P165.71 million in taxes, including P29.95 million from prior years but remitted only P118.79 million to the BIR, leaving a yearend balance of P46.92 million.
Likewise, personnel contributions and loan payments were deducted from employees’ pay in 2023 totaling P173.428 million but total remittances were only at P169.59 million.
Out of Pag-IBIG contributions amounting to P13.575 million last year, only P11.054 million was remitted.
In the same manner, the Due to PhilHealth account showed only P14.695 million was remitted from the total contributions of P19.788 million.
“Ideally, the balance of Due to BIR, GSIS, HDMF (or Pag-IBIG) and PhilHealth accounts should be equivalent to zero after remitting the amount withheld within the prescribed period. However, the remittance of the amounts withheld was not strictly observed,” the audit team said.
It pointed out that the short remittances deprived the government of revenues for its priority programs while some of the provincial personnel might end up being denied full coverage of services and benefits due to them as members of good standing of government service agencies.
Auditors recommended that the provincial governor require the provincial accountant to pay all unremitted membership contributions and rectify its books to reflect the correct amounts payable.
During the exit conference last March 21, the provincial accountant notified the audit team that reconciliation of the Due to BIR, Pag-IBIG, and PhilHealth accounts was underway.
